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113
APPENDIX H.
Submitted to the Housing Act 1930 Sub-Committee on the 13th December, 1934.
MANAGEMENT OF HOUSES TO BE ERECTED BY THE COUNCIL UNDER
THE HOUSING ACT 1930
MEMORANDUM BY THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH.
Foreword.
With the erection by the Council of houses to be occupied by persons displaced from clearance
areas, a new era begins. Hitherto the Council has had the opportunity of making a selection of tenants
for the houses previously erected by them, but no selection is possible in respect of displaced tenants
under the Housing Act 1930 who must be provided for by the Council. Many of the new tenants will
be housed under conditions with which they are relatively unfamiliar and the management therefore
of the new estate becomes one of great importance, not only from the point of view of the public health
but also as regards the maintenance of the new houses.
Speaking generally the public health of a community depends on two factors: (1) environmental
hygiene, of which the house is the most important; and (2) personal hygiene. Both these factors
are supervised by the Health Department so far as the general public is concerned and it appears to
me highly desirable that in respect of an estate belonging to the Council where environmental hygiene
is of pre-eminent importance, that the Health Department, through its sanitary officers, should exercise
complete supervision over these new houses.
A great deal has been done by workers in the public health field in relation to preventive
medicine and I am anxious that the Council should give an opportunity to the department to deal
with preventive sanitation in respect of their new estate.
I have set out in detail in the following memorandum the particular reasons why an officer
with a sanitary inspector's qualifications and experience should be in charge of the new estate. The
management of houses erected for purposes of the Housing Act 1930 is not merely a matter of rent
collections week by week and decorations and repairs from time to time, but it is in fact a social
service like almost any other service within the Health Department. It involves the preparation of
the tenant for his new dwelling and his education as to how to make the best use of the new house
for the sake of the house, for the sake of his personal health, for the sake of the public health and for
the sake of economy.
I should be glad if the Council would kindly give this memorandum their best consideration
as it opens up a vista of progress in respect of house property and the conditions under which the people
live, which ultimately should be for the benefit of both tenant and landlord, whether public or private.
The Housing Act 1930.
The Housing Act 1930 enables local authorities
(1) To remedy bad housing conditions by dealing with
(a) Clearance areas;
(b) Improvement areas; and
(c) Individual defective houses.
(2) To build new houses for the persons displaced.
The General Problem.
The problem of the management of the new houses erected by the Council for occupation by
persons previously inhabiting slums is one which requires earnest attention. The problem is threefold
and includes :—
(a) The preparation of the slum dweller and his belongings for the occupation of the new houses
(b) The construction of the new houses so that they may be most suitable for occupation
by the slum dweller and not likely to permit of nuisances arising therein; and
(c) The use of the new houses by the new tenants so that the good sanitary conditions provided
may be preserved.
(a) The preparation of the slum dweller and his belongings for the occupation of the new houses.
This work consists in cleansing the slum dweller and his belongings preparatory to the occupation
of the new house. It involves personal cleanliness, the cleanliness of clothing and the freedom of the
furniture and bedding about to be taken to the new house from bugs, lice, fleas and vermin of every
description. This work is the ordinary work of a Health Department but would require special
methods having regard to the new conditions.